Kiarostami Quotes & Sayings

Everybody knows that I am not usually patient enough to actually sit down and watch one of my own films from the beginning to the end - I never do. — Abbas Kiarostami

I think I really produce my best work in Iran. — Abbas Kiarostami

In real life, when someone's partner calls them, they can tell from the first word their partner says what their mood is. — Abbas Kiarostami

You won't believe it but
I quench my thirst
by drinking from a mirage. — Abbas Kiarostami

In this type of cinema, whether working with actors or non-actors, as much as you do direct them, if you allow yourself to be directed by them, then the end result will be much more pleasing. The real and individual strengths of the actors is allowed to be expressed and is something that does affect the audience very deeply. — Abbas Kiarostami

Close-Up is a very particular film in my oeuvre. It's a film that was made in a very particular way; mainly because I didn't really have the time to think about how to go about making the film. — Abbas Kiarostami

Those same people, when they leave the theater, when they look behind the curtains they are curious about their neighbors, they can guess if their neighbors are siblings or a couple, how old they are, what their occupation is. They are curious about each other and they can understand each other without being fed information. Why should it be different in cinema? — Abbas Kiarostami

This was pointed out to me by somebody who referred to the paintings of Rembrandt and his use of light: some elements are highlighted while others are obscured or even pushed back into the dark. And it's something that we do - we bring out elements that we want to emphasise. — Abbas Kiarostami

I do believe in [Robert] Bresson's method of creation through omission, not through addition. — Abbas Kiarostami

I can only display what I've been nurtured with, which is this worldview which has become my view. If I displayed anything different from it in my work, I wouldn't deserve this heritage. — Abbas Kiarostami

The one-word cinema wasn't possible for me anymore. I'd hit a wall, a dead end. Therefore I thought I'd turn back. — Abbas Kiarostami

Despite the great advantages of digital video and the great ease of using the medium, still those who use it have first to understand the sensitivities of how to best use the medium. — Abbas Kiarostami

To me, AIDS is an international epidemic and every country can be affected by it. Therefore, it can be discussed on an international level. Unfortunately, AIDS doesn't require a visa. — Abbas Kiarostami

Of the hundreds of points to enter and exit that are offered to me, I have to choose the one that I feel is the least wrong, the least fake. It is fake, it is a moment that I choose to erupt the story, but I make it as smooth as I can. What enables me to do it is the skill of filmmaking. — Abbas Kiarostami

The full moon
reflected in water,
the water
contained in the bowl,
and the thirsty man

deep in sleep. — Abbas Kiarostami

While shooting Ten I was sitting in the backseat, but I didn't interfere. Sometimes, I was following in another car, so I was not even present on the "set", because I thought they would work better in my absence. — Abbas Kiarostami

It's said that in the beginning was the word, but for me the beginning is always an image. When I think about a conversation, it always starts with images. And what I love about photography is the inscription of a single moment: it's completely ephemeral. You take the photograph, and one second later, everything has changed. — Abbas Kiarostami

This kind of directing, I think, is very similar to being a football coach. You prepare your players and place them in the right places, but once the game is on, there's nothing much you can do - you can smoke a cigarette or get nervous, but you can't do much. — Abbas Kiarostami

My car's my best friend. My office. My home. My location. I have a very intimate sense when I am in a car with someone next to me. We're in the most comfortable seats because we're not facing each other, but sitting side by side. We don't look at each other, but instead do so only when we want to. We're allowed to look around without appearing rude. We have a big screen in front of us and side views. Silence doesn't seem heavy or difficult. Nobody serves anybody. And many other aspects. One most important thing is that it transports us from one place to another. — Abbas Kiarostami

It seems that film-makers are being divided between those working in digital and those who are not. I think it's not something predetermined - it all depends on what project we have in mind, and on that basis we choose the medium. — Abbas Kiarostami

The world is my workshop. It is not my home. — Abbas Kiarostami

I really think that I don't mind people sleeping during my films, because I know that some very good films might prepare you for sleeping or falling asleep or snoozing. It's not to be taken badly at all. This is something I really mean. — Abbas Kiarostami

Good cinema is what we can believe, and bad cinema is what we can't believe. — Abbas Kiarostami

Cinema seats make people lazy. They expect to be given all the information. But for me, question marks are the punctuation of life. — Abbas Kiarostami

I film normal-life subjects in natural settings that some people would consider uncinematic. But what I want to show is nature itself, as the truth of life. — Abbas Kiarostami

As film-makers, it is very important for us to find common ground between cultures, and maybe that's less the case for politicians who benefit more from finding the conflicts and differences between us. — Abbas Kiarostami

I have received the digital camera as a blessing. It has really changed my life as a filmmaker, because I don't use my camera anymore as a camera. I don't feel it as a camera. I feel it as a friend, as something that doesn't make an impression on people, that doesn't make them feel uncomfortable, and that is completely forgotten in my way of approaching life and people and film. — Abbas Kiarostami

I was mentioning with the digital camera, maybe this new fashion of filmmaking gives a closer look of what life may be like. But it's still nothing but a copy. — Abbas Kiarostami

The kind of sleep that I had during my own film [Certified Copy] screening in Cannes is different. It's not because of the specificity of the film. It was because of my relationship as an author to this film. Usually when I take my films to festivals, I feel incredibly anxious about them. I wonder how it will be received, how the audience will react. I feel deeply responsible for them. Whereas this time, I didn't have that responsibility on my shoulders. — Abbas Kiarostami

My car is my best friend. My office. My home. My location. I have a very intimate sense when I am in a car with someone next to me. We're in the most comfortable seats because we're not facing each other, but sitting side by side. — Abbas Kiarostami

Following the mirage
here I am at the water's edge
without the feeling of thirst. — Abbas Kiarostami

When I find the character, I try to spend time with them and get to know them very well. Therefore my notes are not from the character that I had in my mind before, but are instead based on the people I've met in real life. — Abbas Kiarostami

I don't generally derive my stories from novels. I try to turn into film things I have felt or experienced. — Abbas Kiarostami

I do believe that a film like Ten could never have been made with a 35mm camera. The first part of the film lasts 17 minutes, and by the end of that part, the kid has totally forgotten the camera. — Abbas Kiarostami

Usually when I take my films to festivals, I feel incredibly anxious about them. I wonder how it will be received, how the audience will react. I feel deeply responsible for them. — Abbas Kiarostami

If I do continue to have the opportunity to work in Iran, that's very much what I'd prefer to do. — Abbas Kiarostami

The nature that is in the location of my films can be seen in my photography, and I want my films to become closer to my photography and more distant from storytelling. It is true that these are completely separate milieus, but in my opinion, the ideal situation for me is for these two areas - photography and cinema - to become closer to one another. — Abbas Kiarostami

A digital camera does have many advantages and I was a believer that digital video would be a big influence on film-making. — Abbas Kiarostami

In my opinion the man looks at the relationship in a more bitter fashion and the woman still holds great hopes. — Abbas Kiarostami

Cinema gives you the opportunity to be both a grandparent and a grandchild whereas in life you cannot be both at the same time. — Abbas Kiarostami

If you are a businessman or a politician in Iran, you can get a visa as quickly as you ask for it. — Abbas Kiarostami

I don't have very complete scripts for my films. I have a general outline and a character in my mind, and I make no notes until I find the character who's in my mind in reality. — Abbas Kiarostami

The only thing that I can do is hold a mirror in front of men and women, in front of the viewer in the theater, to reflect. There is nothing but reflection that I could intend to offer the viewer of the film. — Abbas Kiarostami

Light: the greatest painter and photographer of all. At every single moment of our lives we see different images, different pictures. — Abbas Kiarostami

Religion works on some people but not on everyone, because it says, 'Stop thinking and accept what I tell you.' That's not valid for people who want to think and reflect. — Abbas Kiarostami

Therefore, when you see the end result, it's difficult to see who's the director, me or them. Ultimately, everything belongs to the actors - we just manage the situation. — Abbas Kiarostami

In my mind, there isn't as much of a distinction between documentary and fiction as there is between a good movie and a bad one. — Abbas Kiarostami

In order to be able to cooperate with a child, you have to come down to below their level in order to communicate with them. Actors are also like children. — Abbas Kiarostami

I prefer the films that put their audience to sleep in the theater. Some films have made me doze off in the theater, but the same films have made me stay up at night, wake up thinking about them in the morning, and keep on thinking about them for weeks. — Abbas Kiarostami

When you look at nature, you see a hidden mystery that gives a special flavor to the photograph. — Abbas Kiarostami

I feel like a tree. A tree doesn't feel a duty to start doing something about the earth from which it comes. A tree just has to bear fruit, and leaves and blossoms. It doesn't feel grateful to the earth. — Abbas Kiarostami

As long as I take the responsibility of the choice, I have to make the choice that is as right as possible. — Abbas Kiarostami

I think violence can never be justified. — Abbas Kiarostami

We are nothing but a link between our culture and what we can actually produce. — Abbas Kiarostami

I think that if you're a digital thinker, you can use a digital camera. — Abbas Kiarostami

Whether you consider me a master filmmaker or not, I do it with my intuition and my vision, my experience as a storyteller. — Abbas Kiarostami

When I'm in the process of making a movie I'm not thinking about the finished result, and whether people have to see it once or more than once, and what the reaction to it will be. I just make it, and then I live with the consequences, some of which may not be as pleasant as I'd like! I know one thing, however. Many viewers may come out of the theater not satisfied, but they won't be able to forget the movie. I know they'll be talking about it during their next dinner. I want them to be a little restless about my movies, and keep trying to find something in them. — Abbas Kiarostami

I thought that I had been asked every kind of question possible. — Abbas Kiarostami

There is violence in real life but I would never impose violence in a film just to attract the audience. — Abbas Kiarostami

When we start shooting I don't have rehearsals with characters at all. So, rather than pulling them towards myself, I travel closer to them; it's very much closer to the real person than anything I try to create. So I give them something but I also take from them. — Abbas Kiarostami

I had intended to make another film, called Pocket Money, which was to be about children at a school.I was very much intrigued by the story [of Close Up] - it came into my dreams and I was very much influenced by it. So I called my producer and asked that we put aside Pocket Money and start something else, and he agreed. — Abbas Kiarostami

All the different nations in the world, despite their differences of appearance and religion and language and way of life, still have one thing in common, and that is what's inside of all of us. If we X-rayed the insides of different human beings, we wouldn't be able to tell from those X-rays what the person's language or background or race is. — Abbas Kiarostami

In my films, I try to give people as little information as possible, which is still much more than what they get in real life. I feel that they should be grateful for the little bit of information I give them. — Abbas Kiarostami

Whenever people ask me what the story is for my next film, I won't tell and people feel it's because I'm being secretive or something, but it's actually because I'm ashamed to sum up a film in three sentences. — Abbas Kiarostami

A work of art doesn't exist outside the perception of the audience. — Abbas Kiarostami

We don't look at each other [in the car], but instead do so only when we want to. We're allowed to look around without appearing rude. We have a big screen in front of us and side views. Silence doesn't seem heavy or difficult. — Abbas Kiarostami

There are at least two retrospectives of my work each year in some country. — Abbas Kiarostami

I've often noticed that we are not able to look at what we have in front of us, unless it's inside a frame. — Abbas Kiarostami

I never really learned photography. — Abbas Kiarostami

The experience of life teaches us that being like someone in love is more real, because everything is uncertain. — Abbas Kiarostami

It is a very important film, Life And Nothing More, in that what was filmed was inspired by a journey I had made just three days after an earthquake. And I speak not only of the film itself but also of the experience of being in that place, where only three days before 50,000 people had died. — Abbas Kiarostami

As soon as people enter a theater they must become moron consumers who must be fed information. — Abbas Kiarostami

I think I'm no different to my friends who are doctors or businessmen or architects - we all started watching films of the golden age together. But whether I'm making films or writing poetry or doing photography, it's very much rooted in my sense of unease. And that's really where everything goes back to. — Abbas Kiarostami

I think Woody Allen is Woody Allen, and no matter where he goes he still makes his Woody Allen films. — Abbas Kiarostami

Morning is white,
evening is black,
a gray sorrow
in between. — Abbas Kiarostami

I saw this French woman, this English man in Italy. It was a film [Certified Copy] I knew well, but I had already seen it, and I was familiar with it, and I had no feeling of anxiety or responsibility toward it. — Abbas Kiarostami

I never reflect or convey that which I have not experienced myself. — Abbas Kiarostami

This concept that you refer to in Buddhism is something I've been nurtured with through the history of my country for 700, 800 years - Persian poets and philosophers haven't said anything different with regard to experiencing life in the moment, as opposed to the belief of permanence. — Abbas Kiarostami

Unfortunately, cinema critics are very few in America, 400-500 people, but there are more critics of Iran. — Abbas Kiarostami

I didn't just see myself as a film director here [in Life And Nothing More], but also as an observer of people who had been condemned to death. — Abbas Kiarostami

With the RED, I didn't have this impression at all. I felt that it was as heavy as a film camera. Having this great crew, with the DP and his assistants, I found it making as much of an impression as a very big film camera. I didn't relate to it as much. I remember avoiding it during the shooting rather than paying attention to it. — Abbas Kiarostami

I thought that choosing a non-professional was a condition for me, because it would allow Juliette to have a less-professional way of acting. It would challenge her performance as a professional actress. — Abbas Kiarostami

I can watch films and say how technically beautiful they are, but I'm not impressed by any technicality. — Abbas Kiarostami

I would be too selfish if I said everyone should see my movies more than once. To say that would mean I'm just marketing my work! — Abbas Kiarostami

My films have been progressing towards a certain kind of minimalism, even though it was never intended. Elements which can be eliminated have been eliminated. — Abbas Kiarostami

When the film [Certified Copy] was in the Cannes Festival, I realized that the fact of having it shot in a different culture, in a different language, in a different setting, that wasn't mine and that I didn't belong to, gave me a totally different relationship to the film. When I was sitting in the audience during the official screening in Cannes, I didn't feel that it was my film. — Abbas Kiarostami

Poetry always runs away from you - it's very difficult to grasp it, and every time you read it, depending on your conditions, you will have a different grasp of it. Whereas with a novel, once you have read it, you have grasped it. — Abbas Kiarostami

It's not so much a question of whether we've shot it through 35mm or digital video; what is important is whether the audience accepts it as real. — Abbas Kiarostami

If you catch me coming out of a film, when I'm emotionally involved, I can tell you at that moment why I like it - but to talk about it years later is not logical to me. — Abbas Kiarostami

Some movies bring out the creativity in you. Every single audience member can become creative in the face of a particular movie. If you happen to like my films, it's because my films provide a bed for you on which you can find your creativity. The Hollywood movies do not provide that for you. — Abbas Kiarostami

I am still very surprised that I managed to make that film [Close Up]. When I actually look back on that film, I really feel that I was not the director but instead just a member of the audience. — Abbas Kiarostami

I would say that no film is apolitical. There are politics in all films. Any film that is anchored in a society, any film that deals with humanity is necessarily political. — Abbas Kiarostami

Film begins with DW Griffith and ends with Abbas Kiarostami. — Jean-Luc Godard

The day we run out of petrol is the day Iran will be free. — Abbas Kiarostami

I have no advice for anyone on how to live. — Abbas Kiarostami

[Abbas Kiarostami] is a great artist and a poet. I sometimes think that if Samuel Beckett made films, he'd make them like Kiarostami makes them. — Anthony Minghella

There are certainties in existence, but love is something much harder to define than light and dark, life and death. I think saying you are "like" someone in love sounds right. — Abbas Kiarostami

From my very first movie, what was my concentration, my inspiration, was I didn't want to narrate something, I didn't want to tell a story. I wanted to show something, I wanted for them to make their own story from what they were seeing. — Abbas Kiarostami

When you take a tree that is rooted in the ground, and transfer it from one place to another, the tree will no longer bear fruit. And if it does, the fruit will not be as good as it was in its original place. This is a rule of nature. I think if I had left my country, I would be the same as the tree. — Abbas Kiarostami

The digital camera has given me total freedom and a different way of filming. — Abbas Kiarostami